STAIR: STanford Artificial Intelligence Robot

Since its birth in 1956, the AI dream has been to build systems that exhibit broad-spectrum competence and intelligence. In the STAIR (STanford AI Robot) project, we are building a robot that can navigate home and office environments, pick up and interact with objects and tools, and intelligently converse with and help people in these environments.

Our single robot platform will integrate methods drawn from all areas of AI, including machine learning, vision, navigation, manipulation, planning, reasoning, and speech/natural language processing. This is in distinct contrast to the 30-year trend of working on fragmented AI sub-fields, and will be a vehicle for driving research towards true integrated AI.

Over the long term, we envision a single robot that can perform tasks such as:

Fetch or deliver items around the home or office.

Tidy up a room, including picking up and throwing away trash, and using the dishwasher.

Prepare meals using a normal kitchen.

Use tools to assemble a bookshelf.

A robot capable of these tasks will revolutionize home and office automation, and have important applications ranging from home assistants to elderly care. However, carrying out such tasks will require significant advances in integrating learning, manipulation, perception, spoken dialog, and reasoning.